Page 50

That includes you, sweetheart,I thought.You are my business. And you always will be.

I didn't pick that fight this time. For now. Tugging my jeans up again, I moved to the door, checking the hallway.

“All clear,” I said.

Hattie gathered her clothes, bundling them into her arms.

“You don’t have to stand guard when the bathroom is just down the hall,” she said, stepping past me. “Your brothers see a parade of naked women on a regular basis. My presence won’t shock them.”

“Not the point,” I replied. “You’re my wife. You deserve privacy.”

“Ex-wife, Neil,” Hattie admonished. “I’m yourex-wife. I think it has more to do with Spike hitting on me earlier. I could tell youhatedthat.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re trying to make me jealous on purpose.”

She beamed. Standing there barefoot, wearing nothing but the damn sheet, it was certainly a gutsy move to tease me like this. She rose up on tiptoe, delivering a quick peck to my lips. I aimed a swat at her ass, but she skirted out of reach and slipped into the corridor with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

That’s the Hattie I knew and loved—sassy, playful, and flirty.

I watched her go until she disappeared into the ladies restroom, then I fetched my shirt and cut to finish getting dressed. Club rules dictated that no one laid a finger on hisbrother’s woman. For some men, rules didn’t mean jack shit. You had to watch what belonged to you like a hawk.

I didn’t have that concern among the Blackjacks though. Even with Spike roaming around like an elk during the rutting season. He might run his mouth, but he didn’t cross his brothers.

I kept an eye on Hattie because I made a promise to her, I swore an oath. Just because I put my name on the dotted line of those divorce papers, didn’t mean I would break my vows.

When Hattie emerged twenty minutes later, she was dressed, and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. As she approached, she scrubbed her palms on her jeans, preparing herself for the talk I didn’t want to have.

“I know, baby,” I said.

Hattie blinked in surprise.

“I didn’t say anything.”

I shrugged.

“Didn’t have to. There’s enough on your mind already, with this trial coming up, and your new niece to think about. Getting back with your ex-husband would complicate things even more.”

She frowned as I looped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into my side with a kiss to her forehead.

“I thought you would fight me to stay," she said.

I wanted to. The primal instincts in my bones were more than ready to claw her back into my arms and never let her go. But this was Hattie—my Hattie, the woman I pledged my life to. If she was happy somewhere else, married to another man, I couldn’t keep her here.

“Maybe I’m mellowing out in my old age,” I replied.

Hattie scoffed.

“Not likely. I expected we would have this big, blow up fight, and I’d storm out, telling you to fuck off. It would be easier to leave after that.”

I hummed, moving to block her path. I slid my arms around her waist, slotting my hands in the back pockets of her jeans. Fuck, she felt so good pressed up against me like this. The swell of her ass in my palms. The curve of her tits pressed to my chest.

“So, you’re saying you’ll stick around if I’m on my best behavior?” I countered.

She snorted.

“Did your best behavior put that body in the morgue at the police station?”